Hmmmm….As a truck driver, you might get bored if you are all on your own on a long drive. Oh, and I have no idea what “QSL” stood for. And for the record, as stated on my card, “I QSL 100%” (which meant that if you sent me cards, I would absolutely send you cards…no wasted “sends”) □ I just did a Google search and came up with this groovy site: I didn’t find my card, but I also didn’t look through the 10,412 cards that are there… I guess the idea was that if you traveled somewhere, you would have somebody you could contact over the CB while you were there. I had hundreds of QSL cards from people all over the United States. It was sort of like a chain-letter, really. Then you’d put together envelopes of 10 of your cards, plus some others and send them on to everyone who’s QSL card you’d just received. Somebody would send you a pack of 10 of their own QSL cards, and also include several from other people. They were postcards that you’d design yourself with some hand-drawn (sometimes lewd) design, which would include your handle, your license number, and your mailing address. ![]() One aspect of the CB radio craze that you don’t hear much about (not that you hear much about the 70’s CB radio craze anyway…) are QSL cards. I was in middle school when all this became popular, and had a couple of radios - my favorite was my Cobra 40-channel, very similar to this one. But the explosion in the use of CB’s prompted the FCC to open up it up to 40 channels - though I don’t remember what year that happened. If I remember right, when CB’s first started to get popular, there were only 23 channels available. You are reminding me of so many things that I haven’t thought of for 40 years! Thanks so much for this post, and ALL of these amazing posts. The public was slowly beginning to catch CB fever, and the sales of these devices began to rise. The song went straight to the #1 spot and stayed for an impressive six weeks. McCall released a novelty song called “Convoy” which featured the colorful CB communications between a group of truckers organizing a protest. In 1974, a television series debuted called Movin’ On, which featured Claude Akins and Frank Converse as big-rig drivers who regularly used CB radios. It wasn’t long before Hollywood got wind of these underground antics and started portraying truckers using this intriguing technology. ![]() And, if your 10-20 was a “choke and puke,” that meant you were at a roadside truck stop. It also allowed them to organize protests, blockades and convoys under the relative anonymity of various nicknames or “handles” and by using coded language filled with colorful catchphrases.Ī highway patrolman was a “Smokey Bear”, a police helicopter became a “bear in the air.” A “10-20” referred to to a specific location, while a “10-100” meant taking a bathroom break. Truckers weren’t pleased, and began using the technology to alert fellow drivers to the presence of speed traps set along the highways. With the emergence of the energy crisis in 1973, the nation decided to impose a 55MPH speed limit. Most notably, the trucking industry embraced the technology, allowing its drivers to converse with each other and share information along those lonely stretches of highway. ![]() By the 1960s, small businesses were using it as an effective way for their employees to communicate with each other. Within a few years, however, just about everyone and their mother had joined in the fun, thanks in no small part to a popular song and a very successful movie, each of which promoted this early version of social networking that took the nation by storm.Ĭitizen Band radio was developed in 1945, setting aside a segment of radio frequencies, split into 40 channels, for use by the general public. When the 1970s arrived, few people outside of the trucking industry had ever heard of a CB radio.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |